Former Menchville pitchers band together for summer of adjustments with Pilots

Isabelle Khurshudyan, ikhurshudyan@dailypress.com | 757-247-7422

HAMPTON—When pitchers Jharel Cotton and Deshorn Lake first moved from the St. Thomas, V.I. to Newport News, the transition was not an easy one.

They thought it was weird that the schools were outside. They missed the beach, as Virginia Beach wasn't quite the same. They were homesick. But being friends since Cotton was 14, the two were able to share their frustrations once Lake moved before his junior year at Menchville.

As they enter an entirely different summer of adjustments, Lake and Cotton are sticking together once again, playing for the Peninsula Pilots together this summer while weighing changes in their baseball futures.

"They clearly have a connection," said Pilots coach Hank Morgan. "They enjoy being around each other – you can tell."

How can Morgan tell? The two sit together on the bus, room together on road trips and hang around the team's clubhouse together, often speaking to each other in a dialect from their Virgin Island home. They were never teammates at Menchville, as Cotton was playing at Miami Dade College when Lake moved from St. Thomas, but they got the chance to be teammates at East Carolina University last season.

Lake and Cotton weren't going to be teammates this summer with the Pilots until Cotton was drafted in the 20th round by the Dodgers and decided playing with the Pilots would be the best determinant of if he should sign with Los Angeles or return to school for his final year of eligibility.

"I've been trying to help him and figure out what my role is in all of that stuff," Morgan said. "I've been on the phone with his adviser and I've been on the phone with the Dodgers and with their scouts several times. I'm hearing from Jharel (Cotton) what the university is saying. … I've not given him advice is any direction as much as I have just laid out some facts for him so he can make his own decision."

Cotton will not start in any game, but will throw 50 pitches in every fourth game. He said he'll wait until the signing deadline, July 13, to come to a decision with the Dodgers, who also offered to sign him in free agency after junior college, though he chose to go to ECU.

To determine if he's "pro-ready," Cotton is looking to see if his breaking pitch is working, if he has command of his fastball and if both those things are consistent. In 6 2/3 innings pitched with the Pilots, Cotton has a 1.35 ERA, allowing just two hits and one earned run, while tallying 13 strikeouts.

Last summer, Cotton said he needed a break from baseball, so he didn't play with the Pilots like he had the year before. This year, a break was the last thing Cotton wanted as he mulls over a decision on his future.

"I was home bored, so I decided to come out this year," Cotton said. "I did get the itch, so I came out and now I'm pitching for them."

While Morgan has tried to guide Cotton through his decision process, he's trying to get Lake to buy into an entirely different process.

After Menchville, Lake was drafted by the Boston Red Sox in the 12th round, but decided to continue his baseball dream in college rather than become a professional. Joining Cotton and fellow Menchville native Austin Chrismon was an added benefit, but Lake thought the experience in college would make him more comfortable as a pitcher.

"I mean, college is fun," Lake said. "There's a lot more room to get better and there's a lot more time for me as a person to learn how to handle people instead of being immature and playing baseball not knowing what I'm doing."

Lake didn't get much experience at ECU in his first season, having just 8 1/3 innings pitched with a 7.56 ERA. Morgan and Lake were both hopeful that Lake would be a starter this summer for the Pilots, but Morgan said he's still trying to get him to buy into a regimen that differs from a college routine.

The Pilots ask their pitchers to throw twice off a mound in between starts. In the first day after a start, a pitcher needs to stay away from a baseball and run, while in the second day, the regimen calls for throwing flat ground.

On the third day, there's a light bullpen session at about 50 percent effort, which gets to 70 percent effort on the fourth day. The day before the start, the pitcher should do nothing at all. In 8 1/3 innings pitched with the Pilots, Lake has a 5.40 ERA with 10 hits, seven walks and nine strikeouts.

"With some, there's some hesitancy because it's not what they're used to, but it's what you're going to have to do at the next level," Morgan said.

Cotton said he considers Lake a little brother and pushes him to get better, just as Lake does for Cotton. While both pitchers face a summer of changes and decisions, doing it together feels right, as they can vent their frustrations to each other once again, and no one else will be able to understand.

"We talk in a different dialect and the guys are always asking what we said," Cotton said. "They want us to say it again or teach them that. It's hard to explain it to them, but we just have fun."